PUBLIC ART AND DIGITIZATION PRACTICES

The course aims to expand the knowledge of some specific fields of public and digital art, and provide tools to understand the cultural and technical evolution that has led to a convergence between social and electronic space. The broader context of 20th and 21st century art history acts as a framework from which selected case studies will highlight the relationship between body, space and new media, as well as the more recent impact of the Internet as public and artistic-visual agency.

- Analysis and understanding. Knowledge of historical-artistic context and cultural guidelines that contribute to the development of trends. Being able to outline the implications of the artwork’s exit from a static context, in the wake of an ever more present public and technological dimension.
- Analytic and critical skills. The student will be able to recognize artworks of a visual, performative or conceptual nature, learning how to place them within trends and contexts. Formulate evaluations not only through formal analysis but also by operating within a historical-artistic perspective that is not immediately obvious, in which social processes are involved.
- Communication skills. Use of appropriate terminology, able to qualify topics and aesthetic expressions through the specific language of art history; descriptive skills able to synthesize the complexity of sociocultural and technological phenomena.

A preliminary knowledge of the field of visual arts is preferable.

From a broader context of the history of art of the 20th and 21st centuries, the course aims to explore the process of confrontation of art with those technologies that have allowed a relationship with public space, intended mainly as a social place. We will focus on the identification of some precedents, and then on the relationship between artists and digital media. Case studies will cover creative practices within telecommunications, spatial geolocation tools, Internet and virtuality.

The texts below are to be considered indicative of a general context overview. More details on the bibliography and selected chapters will be specified during class.

Bazzichelli, T. (2008). Networking: The Net as Artwork. Arhus: Digital Aesthetics Research Center.
Chandler, A., & Neumark, N. (Eds.). (2005). At a Distance: Precursors to Art and Activism on the Internet. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
Graham, B., & Cook, S. (2010). Rethinking Curating: Art After New Media. Cambridge-London: MIT Press.
Greene, R. (2004). Internet Art. London: Thames & Hudson.
Groys, B. (2016). In the Flow. London: Verso.
Hemment, D. (2006). «Locative Arts». Leonardo, 39, 348–355.
Manovich, L. (2006). «The Poetics of Augmented Space». Visual Communication, 5, 219–240.
Manovich, L. (2013). Software Takes Command. New York: Bloomsbury.
Paul, C. (2015). Digital Art. London: Thames & Hudson.
Paul, C. (Ed.). (2016). A Companion to Digital Art. Malden: Wiley-Blackwell.
Quaranta, D. (2013). Beyond New Media Art. Brescia: LINK Editions.
Quaranta, D. (2021). Surfing con Satoshi: Arte, blockchain e NFT. Milano: Postmedia Books. [Italian]
Raley, R. (2009). Tactical Media. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Tuters, M., & Varnelis, K. (2006). Beyond Locative Media: Giving Shape to the Internet of Things. Leonardo, 39, 357–363.

Work-in-progress list.

The final exam will consist of two parts: 1) a presentation of a short essay on an approved subject related to the course topics, 2) an oral examination with discussion of the above mentioned essay and questions on topics discussed in class.

Non-attending students are kindly requested to contact the professors in order to agree on integrations and on a different mode of examination.

Class includes frontal lessons on the topics of public and digital art, making use of presentation slides for a more precise mode of display and discussion. Integrative seminars on specific case studies and techniques are planned.

Attendance is strongly recommended.

English

Provisional programme. May change in modalities and materials.

written and oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Cities, infrastructure and social capital" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development